Lessons From Animals

Latte, July 2010 (SJS)
You can learn a lot from animals. I thought about this today while driving home from class. Sunday evening, I took a long walk around the boulevard. While trotting, I noticed a gaggle of geese (about 20 or so) by bank of the river. Most of the geese migrated across the street. I could not help noticing one of the geese limping in the street to join the group. The goose appeared to be fine except for the left foot. There was no left foot. There was a stump where it would have been. However, I noticed that this little creature kept moving forward and eventually joined his friends.
Today after class I drove home to see Java, Latte, and Moshi, and Latte met me in the upstairs bedroom. She managed to give me a little hop, despite her condition. And I noticed when she leaped to get up on the bed, she managed to just make it on the bed, whereas before it would not have been an effort. Although Latte didn't seem to mind, it bothered me to see her struggle, even a little bit. I guess my point is that animals tend to handle adversity, challenges, and looking into the countenance of death well. Despite the fact that the vet gave Latte (as one of my favorite authors Jen Lancaster put it) "an expiration date," Latte is holding her own. She purrs, she relaxes, she goes on and does her cat things. Perhaps this will give me a little more peace today knowing she is holding her own.

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